Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-30

ancestress upon the potsherd was commun.
icated To me by my father OF his death.
bed, m took a strong hold upon my imag
inatioa. When l was only nineteen years
Of age | determined AS, to his misfortune,
did one OF our ancestors about the time OF
Elizabeth-to investigate the truth. Into
all that befell me | can not enter now.
But this | saw with my w eyes. On the
the coast Of Africa, in n hitherto uneXplor
ed region, some distance to the north OF
where the Xambesi falls into the sea, there
is a headland, at the extremity of which
u peak overs up, shaped like the head OF q
negro, similar to that of which the writing
speaks. landed there, and learned from
a wandering native, who had been cast out
by his people because Of some crime which
he a committed, that far inland are great
mountains, shaped like cups, and caves
surrounded by m~easureless swamps. ]
learned also that the people there speak d
dialect of Arabic, M are ruled over by q
beautiful 1Chtte tD0nndn, who Is seldom
seen by them, but who is reported TO have
power over all things living and dead.
Two days after / had ascertained this the
man died Of fever contracted in crossing
the swamps, and | was forced by want OF
provisions and by symptoms Of the illness
which aftcrward prostlated mo u take u
my dhow again.
"Of the adventures that befell me after
this | need not now speak. i was wrecked
upon the coast OF Madagascar, and rescued
some months afterward by an English
ship that brought me to Alden, whence
started for England, intending TO prosecute
my search as Don as | had made sufficient
preparations. On my way / stopped IN
Greece, and there, for 'omntd Usncit amor,
/ met your beloved mother, and married
her, and there you were born n she died.
Then IL was h "a my last illness seized me
and | returned hither to die. But still
IA.AAI 49, 80. --I go $50 -
10 learn Arabic, with the intention, should
j ever get better, of returning to the coast OF
Africa, and solving the mystery Of which
the tradition has lived SO many centuries
in our family. But / nave not got better,
and, so far as / am concerned, the story is
at an end.
For you. however, my son, it is not al
an end, and to you | n Oh these the re.
suits OF my labor, together with the hered,
itary proofs of its origin. 1t is my inten,
ton 10 provide that they shall not be put
into your hands until you have reached an
age when you will be able to Judge for
yourself, whether or no you will choose 10
investigate what, if ii is true, must be the
greatest mystery in the world, or TO put ii
10y as an idle fable, originating in the first
place in a wOman's diSordered brain.
II do not believe hat ii is a fable; i be-
lieve that, if it can only be re-discoyered,
there is "A spot where the vital forces of the
world visibly exist. Life exists; why, there
fore, should not the means of preserving ii
infinitely exist also? But | have no wish
To prejudice your mind about the matter.
Read and Judge for yourself. If you are
inclined To undertake the search | have SC
provided hat you will not lack for means.
ii, on the other hand, you are satisfied that
the whole thing is a chimera, then | adJure
you destroy the pOtsherd and the writings
and let a cause Of troubling be removed
I f-A~, A,,- -aAo f,ra-ar Darhnn9 thnf Will
be wisest. The unknown is generally tax
en- To be terrible, not, az the proverb woulo
infer, from the inherent superstition Oh
man, but because ii is SO often terrible. TIC
who would tamper with the vast ana Sc
Crct forces that animate the world may
well fall a victim to them. And II the enc
were attained, if at last you emerged from
the trial ever beautiful ana ever young
dcfying time and evil, n lifted above IN
natural decay Of flesh and intellect, Wh'
snail say that the awesOme change Woult
prove "a happy onet Choose, my SON, am
may the Power who rules all things, an
who SAYS, Thus far shalt thou 90, and thu
much shalt thou learn direct your choic'
to yOur own happiness and the happiness
Of the world, which, in The event OF you
success, YOU would one day certainly rul'
by the pure force OF accumulated eSperl
ence. FAREWELL
Thus the letter, which was unsigned am
undated, abruptly ended.
What do you make of that, Uncle Hol
ly?" said Leo, with a sort OF gasp, as he re
placed it on the table. 1--WE have beel
looking for a mystery, and we certainl
seem TO have found one"
What do / make of yet? Why, tina
your poor lear father was off his head, q
course" | answered, testify. Il guesse
as much that night, twenty years ago, Whe
he came into my room. You see, he ev
IDENTIFY hurried his own end, poor man. ]
Is absolute balderdash."
That's it, sir," said job. solemnly. 10
was a most matter-of-fa specimen OF
m~atter-of-fact class.
We'll, let's see what the potsherd has I
say, at any rate" said Leo, taking up tn
translation in his fathers writing, an
commencing To read:
81, Amenartas, of the Royal House {
Hakor, n Pharaoh of Egypt, wife or Kali
krates (the Strong and Beautiful, or III
Beautiful in Strength, n Priest Of Isl
whom the gods cherish and the demon
obey, being about TO die, to my little so
Tisistbenes (the Mighty Avenger). / fe
with thy father from Egypt In the days
Nekht-nebf, N~ectanebes or Nectanebo III
the last native Pharaoh Of Egypt, fled fro
Ochus to Ethiopia u. c. 339.-EditOr.) eau
ing him through love to break the vow
that he had vowed. We fed southwar